Movie review: 'Widows' is a lively heist thriller

Dana Barbuto The Patriot Ledger

Thursday

Nov 15, 2018 at 11:25 AM

Oscar-winner Viola Davis taps her inner badass in the pulpy crime thriller “Widows.” Her Veronica might start out as a damsel in distress, mourning her dead husband (Liam Neeson), but by the time the credits roll she’s all stoic strength and brute force. You’ll want to be part of her girl gang, fortified by Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki and Cynthia Ervio. It’s an ensemble of larcenous ladies commanding attention, as director Steve McQueen and co-writer Gillian Flynn (“Gone Girl”) engage them in a twist-filled script that pays off big-time.

At its core, “Widows” is a heist movie, but it’s so much more. Flynn and McQueen dive into themes of race, political corruption, power, greed and gender. It’s a lot. Sometimes the juggling act gets to be too much. But the movie, based on a British television series from the 1980s, is so wildly entertaining and crackling fun that you forgive the kitchen-sink approach. That’s because of Davis (“Fences”) and her crew of unlikely mates, all left behind to settle a score related to their dearly departed criminal husbands. Set in the underworld of Chicago, the women – each from different backgrounds – band together to pull off a job so they can repay $2 million to local kingpin Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry) and his cold-hearted enforcer and brother, Jatemme (Daniel Kaluuya.) “My money, one month,” Jamal warns.

While this setup might be enough for most scripts, McQueen and Flynn dig deeper, adding a race for alderman between the Mannings and the Mulligans, an old Chicago dynasty neck-deep in dirty dealings. The great Robert Duvall is the aging lion of the Mulligan clan. Colin Farrell, shedding his Irish brogue, is the prodigal but difficult son. Naturally, they are at odds.

In his first feature since winning the Academy Award for "12 Years a Slave," McQueen smartly places the women ahead of the men, who are here mostly to prop up the ladies’ stories. It’s a breath of fresh air watching the women claw their way back to take control of their own lives. They may aim to “look and move like men” to pull off the heist, but they are all womanly strength and conviction. And what’s that old adage about messing with a scorned woman?

Especially strong are the scenes showing the ladies plotting the heist: buying the guns, the van, figuring out the blueprints. But this is no cute caper a la the “Oceans” films. The stakes are higher, and none of the female characters are given short shrift. Each actress has a task and each gets plenty of moments to shine. Debicki, whose Alice is a battered trophy wife and male plaything, is particularly brilliant. Linda (Rodriguez) needs cash to run her dress boutique and to support her kids. And Belle (Cynthia Erivo) is a tough jill-of-all-trades, hustling for any side job she can get. It would be a spoiler to reveal more about the women and the zig-zag plot they follow. Just know “Widows” is Davis’s movie and she is the bomb.